The present invention is directed to an artist's canvas adapted to provide a surface upon which a artist may print. The artist's canvas according to the present invention further provides a new and useful canvas which not only offers the desirable characteristics of prior art canvasses but also improves upon existing canvasses with respect to strength and weight. Further, the present invention, by its composition, allows an artist to suggest the effect of three dimensional depth without requiring that the artist apply thick, heavy layers of paint. The present invention also encompasses the production method for such canvas.
Since the early beginnings of humankind, artists have sought to express their ideas and emotions through the painting medium. From its early roots in magic and ritual, through religious worship, through recordation of historical events and daily life to pure aesthetic decoration, artists have continually sought new, different and better substrates upon which to ply their talent. Indeed, almost any surface imaginable has, at one time or another, been used as a painting surface. Such surfaces include cave walls, other stone surface, paper, bone, animal skins and cloth materials, to name a few. Artists of the last several hundred years have predominantly relied upon man-made cloth canvasses as the main painting substrate; it is to this painting substrate that the present invention is directed.
Traditional artist's canvasses are formed of linen, cotton, polyester or cotton/polyester mix materials. These materials are selected to have roughness or "tooth" which describes the roughness of the textured surface of the canvas that receives the artist's brush stroke. The less expensive of these existing canvasses are formed by coating the substrate cloth material with an acrylic binder. The more expensive of these prior art canvasses first have a layer of rabbit skin glue as a binder and have an acrylic binder placed on top of the rabbit skin glue binder to form the painting surface. Examples of these canvasses are those sold by Grumbacher, Inc. of New York, N.Y., Fredrix Art Canvas of Lawrenceville, Kans. and Wolsey Co. of City of Industry, Calif.
These prior art canvasses are typically stretched in a taut condition across stretcher bars which form a framework around the perimeter of the canvas, with the canvas being fastened to the stretcher bars to maintain the canvas in the taut condition. Care must be taken when stretching the canvas, though, since the substrate material may become torn or the threads thereof may become separated where too much tension is placed on the material. For this reason, prior art canvasses are made if relatively heavy cloth material to provide sufficient strength.
These existing prior art canvasses have, in many applications, proved suitable as painting surfaces. However, an artist must be especially talented to achieve certain artistic affects on these canvasses. For example, to create a three dimensional appearance, an artist must apply thick layerings of paint in order to form high relief regions that physically give a three dimensional depth to the painting. Even where an artist accomplishes this three dimensional affect by layering different paint thicknesses, the three dimensional affect occurs at distances removed from the painting since the layering creates a more distorted picture when viewed from a close location.
Accordingly, there remains a need for an improved artist's canvas which provides not only the benefits of existing canvasses, but also additional enhancements over prior art canvasses. Such improved canvas must also be able to compete economically with existing canvasses so the pricing is within reach of most artists.